| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Democracy In America, Volume 2 by Alexis de Toqueville: on each occasion prove what he is capable of doing; and that,
instead of perpetually lavishing his powers, he should
occasionally condense them in a small compass, so as to furnish a
sort of complete and brilliant epitome of his constituents and of
himself. On these terms they will vote for him at the next
election. These conditions drive worthy men of humble abilities
to despair, who, knowing their own powers, would never
voluntarily have come forward. But thus urged on, the
Representative begins to speak, to the great alarm of his
friends; and rushing imprudently into the midst of the most
celebrated orators, he perplexes the debate and wearies the
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Economist by Xenophon: answer me, I formed a wrong opinion if I fancied that, in teaching her
the need of minding our property, I was imposing a painful task upon
her. A painful task it might have been[22] (she added), had I bade her
neglect her personal concerns! But to be obliged to fulfil the duty of
attending to her own domestic happiness,[23] that was easy. After all
it would seem to be but natural (added he); just as any honest[24]
woman finds it easier to care for her own offspring than to neglect
them, so, too, he could well believe, an honest woman might find it
pleasanter to care for than to neglect possessions, the very charm of
which is that they are one's very own.
[21] Lit. "By Hera!" Cf. the old formula "Marry!" or "By'r lakin!"
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from 1492 by Mary Johntson: Majesty and its Court and its Army might have roofs and
walls, not tents, for so long a siege, it covered the plain, a
city raised in a night. The siege had been long as the war
had been long. Hidalgo Spain and simple Spain were gathered
here in great squares and ribbons of valor, ambition,
emulation, desire of excitement and of livelihood, and likewise,
I say it, in pieces not small, herded and brought here
without any ``I say yes'' of their own, and to their misery.
There held full flavor of crusade, as all along the war had
been preached as a crusade. Holy Church had here her
own grandees, cavaliers and footmen. They wore cope and
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